


Transmission

by shadhahvar



Category: Yuri!!! on Ice (Anime)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Space, Artificial Intelligence, Gen, M/M, Makkachin is a Navigational AI, Mysterious Forces at Work, Victor is a Spaceship Captain, Yuuri is an Intergalactic Science Agent
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-12-01
Updated: 2017-12-01
Packaged: 2019-02-09 12:15:59
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,035
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12887670
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/shadhahvar/pseuds/shadhahvar
Summary: The last thing Victor Nikiforov, Captain and Chief Executive Officer ofNikiforov & Co., expected was to take on a last minute passenger from Intergalactic Space Station Ehbara.  Yet on the urging of his AI, that's exactly what he does, only to find himself changing course on the word and information of Intergalactic Science Agent Yuuri Katsuki in order to save humanity from eradication.A short fic hinting at broader machinations in an uncaring universe, and the kinds of people and chances taken in order to save those who don't know they're in need of saving.





	Transmission

**Author's Note:**

> Back from a month of NaNoWriMo, and while most of what I've written won't quite see the light of AO3 yet, offering this short piece in the meantime. Happy December, all!

Yuuri Katsuki woke with a start, banging his head on the ceiling of his sleeping pod while his wrist comm beeped his alarm. He grimaced, heart racing. He’d made it this far, and as he slid out of the pod to stand in the small open space of his by-the-hour room on Intergalactic Space Station Ehbara, he had still further to go.

He checked station time on his wrist comm, pulling his jumpsuit out of the compartment he’d shoved it into. Wrinkled but serviceable, he smoothed out his lapels and double checked that his name badge showed his oxygen tax meter was in the green. 

His contact had finally docked last night-cycle after three weeks of waiting for them to make contact. Yuuri had a narrow window to get off station and on site to send out the burst communication carrying the information he now had. He concentrated on breathing as he searched for any intersystem craft taking on passengers slated to leave within the next day cycle on Station. Tossing out an inquiry to two that seemed likely, he hesitated over the third.

 _Nikiforov & Co._, scheduled to undock within the station hour. He’d be able to make it if he rushed. Chances that any captain would take on an eleventh hour passenger seemed slim, but there was a possibility. He sent the inquiry, tossing the rest of his belongings into his pack along with the transmitter.

As he stepped into the hall, following the corridor toward the communal showers, his wrist vibrated with an incoming message. Surprised any of the ships would have gotten back to him so quickly, Yuuri lifted his wrist, glancing at the message interface. 

_Merry Christmas, Mr. Lawrence._

He went cold with dread as his stomach dropped, eyes widening. Not one of the ships. A message from his contact. The agents tracking them had caught up; Yuuri’s position was already compromised. Forcing himself to move, he walked past the showers, sliding into the flow of people in the main corridor, heading for the hangar. It wasn’t a matter of choice. Yuuri had to get out.

An uncaring universe depended on him not failing it now.

* * *

Victor looked up from his reading screens displaying his ship’s system status reports when Makkachin trotted into the room, giving an affable _whuff._ “Yes?”

The canine-formed AI sat down, tail wagging in idle pleasure. Makkachin was an excellent navigator and sublime personal assistant, depending on their mood. A wagging tail usually meant trouble for Victor. Makkachin seemed to delight in watching him navigate through all sorts of sticky situations.

“Passenger request.”

Victor paused, squinting at his AI. “Now? Little bit late, don’t you think?”

“Very much late. Offering to pay rush fees.”

Someone in a hurry with money to throw around? Smelled rotten. “Destination?”

“ISS Carpincho.”

Victor frowned, flicking a finger over the holoscreen and watching the engine specs come rolling back into his field of view. “That’s three systems over.”

“It’s on our way.”

“You don’t think this sounds chancy?”

“Of course, but I want those navigation system upgrades. The ones you keep pushing off because it’s ‘frivolous.’” Makkachin huffed, shaking their head. “He’s one passenger. It’s not like we haven’t taken passengers before while hauling cargo.”

Victor turned fully toward his AI, crossing his arms over his chest. He lifted his eyebrows, waiting Makkachin out.

The AI wagged their tail, panting. Their ability to mimic canine behaviours would be inspiring if it didn’t tend to lead toward Victor making all sorts of sentimental judgements in weak moments. He didn’t feel like he was having a weak moment now, but as Makkachin turned wide, deep brown eyes his way, cocking their head to the side, he could feel his heart start to melt. “Please? New navigation systems, Victor. _Brand new_.”

 _Dammit_. He leaned forward and ruffled the synthetic fur on Makkachin’s poll. “ _Okay_. We’re charging double and adding rush fees on top. He’s accountable for the docking fees at Carpincho. Half is due up front, transferred to the company account. If he says yes to all that, and hauls himself out here before we finish the undocking protocols, he has himself a ride.”

Makkachin let out a happy bark, tail wagging harder as they licked at Victor’s hand. “Yes! Finally, the navigation systems I deserve!”

Shaking his head in fondness and exasperation, Victor turned back to his holoscreen. Makkachin would take care of the details shipside. Victor would handle the update to their documentation, waiting for Makkachin to forward the passenger itinerary. Barely half a klik later, he saw the icon flash in his lower screen. 

_Yuuri Katsuki. What in the worlds has you running out of here so fast?_

It was none of his business, but with half of the exorbitant funds he’d asked for already transferring into his company account, Victor already knew that was a lie. He had to hope that whatever Yuuri Katsuki’s rush was wouldn’t get them all killed.

He snorted, shaking his head at his unlikely flight of fancy, pushing through the final paperwork changes and waiting as Station signed off on them. 

Yuuri hauled across the hangar, cursing under his breath as he dodged another loader cutting across the equipment lanes. The controlled chaos here was relentless, he’d just sunk half his rainy day fund into paying the exorbitant cost of passenger fees for the honour of traveling with _Nikiforov & Co._, and worse, he didn’t know if he’d make the dock in time. 

_Not to mention I don’t know if I’ll live long enough either way for it to matter_.

Breathing hard, he raced along another heavy equipment lane, checking the numbers over the larger bays. He was three away from where he needed to be, lined up with the smaller vessels and reasonable passenger ships with all their built in luxuries he’d never actually experienced for himself. At least if he was racing on toward one of those he could look forward to failing to relax in plush environments.

 _Please be there, please be there, please be there — yes!_ The passenger docking door wasn’t sealed off; Yuuri bolted forward, feet slamming against segmented flooring as he ran the length of the passenger boarding bridge. He cried out in relief as he stepped past the heavy door, momentum carrying him into the opposite wall with a _whump_ before he collapsed to the floor, groaning. “I made it,” he wheezed, door sliding shut behind him. 

A big, brown-furred canid trotted toward him, sniffing his face and licking his hands and wrists when Yuuri tried shoving them away. 

“Makkachin.”

The dog paused, tipping their head to the side and glancing up toward the ceiling, where the intercom was set into the wall. “He’s clean, Captain. We’re ready to head out.”

Yuuri stared at the dog with wide eyes from where he still lay on the floor. No, not a dog. Dogs didn’t speak in a language he understood, let alone in Galactic Common. “You’re robotic?”

Makkachin wagged their tail, stamping one foot on the floor. “I’m a canine cybernetic intelligence, and your navigator. Up! You need to get up to the passenger seats before we hit the first gate. You’ve traveled in small craft before?”

Yuuri rolled over, pushing up to his feet and following after the AI. His head reeled with confusion; weren’t ship AIs usually built in? “Yes, I have. Just, um. How much time are we going to have on the other end of the first gate?”

Makkachin lifted their ears, briefly glancing back his way. “A few standard day-night cycles. Why?”

Yuuri waved off the question, catching sight of the bucket seats and their harnesses. It was going to be a rough jump. The AI watched him as he secured his bag and strapped himself in, wagging their tail before disappearing into the front cabin.

“See you on the other side!”

The cheerfulness in the AI’s voice left him with the sinking feeling it was going to be a worse jump than he thought.

* * *

Victor awkwardly patted Yuuri’s back where he was bent over on the bench, vomit bag clutched in his hand. “Usually the gate jumps aren’t so rough.”

“Nngh.”

“The next two should be better?”

“Uugh.”

“They won’t be worse.”

Yuuri lifted his head, glaring at Victor. He was on the run for his life, maybe for the future of the human species, and here was an unfairly attractive captain trying to reassure him that next time he wouldn’t _throw up as violently_. “They won’t be _happening_.”

Victor quirked his eyebrows, faintly amused. “We’re not taking years to get there traveling through regular space.”

Yuuri brought his hand up to grip Victor’s arm, vomit bag and all. “No.” He swallowed, fixing Victor with a nervous look. “We’re traveling to Iota because if we don’t, we’ll probably both be tracked down and killed and the majority of the human species will be wiped out.”

Silence fell between the both of them before Victor blinked, breathing out in a disbelieving huff of air, exasperated and resigned to a certain kind of amusement. “Wow, okay, that’s not what I was expecting. Since when are we traveling to Iota? Who’s tracking who? Death and killing and wiping out humanity? We’re kind of everywhere, don’t you think that’d be difficult to do?”

Yuuri held his eyes, sick and scared and determined he wasn’t going to be the reason this all ended up crashing down after all this time. Without looking away, he reached into his jumpsuit, tugging on the pendant that hung there. He held it out, inviting him to take it.

Victor went still, warily eyeing Yuuri, then the pendant. “What’s this?”

“Does your AI have a chip scanner? Have them scan the files. Read them. Then tell me you won’t go.”

Victor frowned down at his passenger, accepting the pendant when it was pushed into his palm. He’d picked up a madman, or a man who went mad when he was feeling ill. Terribly unfortunate.

Two hours later, Victor stood before Yuuri, expression carefully neutral.

“Everything in here is true?”

“As best we know, yes.”

Victor studied the pendant in his hand, lapsing into silence. A beautiful disguise for a deadly possibility: snowflakes etched in crystal, suspended in the air. Forever falling.

“We’re charting course for Iota.”

He didn’t stay long enough to hear Yuuri’s thank you, though he didn’t get far enough down the short hall to avoid hearing him start crying in relief. 

* * *

Iota was a habitable planet whose surface was covered in low-salt content water, often compared to oceans on other worlds. It had two main archipelagos and tens of thousands of smaller, floating islands that drifted seasonally across its surface. Not particularly temperate, it was an ecological oddity and enjoyed by those who craved relatively undeveloped country and enjoyed swimming, but not overly popular as a tourist destination.

Such as it was, Victor and Yuuri had little trouble in procuring an overland vehicle to take them out toward the larger mountain range, Yuuri leaving Victor to drive as he calculated their destination. By the time they’d set up the transmitter and started the message playing, aiming for the satellite orbiting by in the night sky, Yuuri was jittery with anxious relief.

“What if it wasn’t in time?”

“It was.”

“How can you know that?” Yuuri turned toward Victor, fingers clenching and unclenching into fists. 

Victor lifted a shoulder in a half shrug, flicking his eyes toward Yuuri. “I don’t. I believe.” Makkachin wagged their tail at their feet. “In all the vastness of space, I believe your message’ll get to who needs to hear it in time.”

“What if it doesn’t?”

Victor turned his face toward Yuuri, seeing the tension in his features and the lines of his shoulder. Biting back a sigh, he offered a wry smile. Yuuri seemed determined to borrow more trouble than he already had. “It will.”

Yuuri glanced away, firming his shoulders. Victor, a stranger, could believe in his success because he’d never had to see Yuuri fail. Then again, was it so bad to borrow that belief? For once he didn’t think so.

Yuuri stared off into the night sky spread wide over them and _believed_.

**Author's Note:**

> Thank you for reading! This is a short indulgence piece flirting with different ideas I've had for Space AU related YOI, particularly Victuuri. For the moment, this is standalone, though I may get to revisit and flesh this out into a more proper story in the future.
> 
> Let me know what you think!


End file.
